I literally did not take one day off from basketball for almost a full year, from USA Basketball last summer until after our Orlando Summer League ended this year. Then I took about four days off. You know how I spent it? My dad and I went to Las Vegas and watched the Las Vegas Summer League. My dad already had his plane ticket because he bought it before the draft – you figure you’re going to be in Las Vegas for Summer League, but then I found out the Pistons were going to play in Orlando.

Corey Maggette was limited to 32 games by injury last season. Check that: by “injuries” – to his knee, to his Achilles tendon, to his lower back. Given the 13 years of NBA wear on his tread, it’s fair to wonder if Maggette’s body is telling him it’s had about enough.

Arnie Kander listens and observes the body at a different level, though, and it didn’t take the Pistons strength and conditioning coach long to get to the root of Maggette’s injury-plagued 2011-12 season with Charlotte.

Andre Drummond’s coaches and teammates alike found him a willing and eager listener and learner during their time at the Orlando Pro Summer League last month. Arnie Kander can confirm their assessment.

If you wonder what the guru who sees things others cannot sees in a player described by many as a physical wunderkind, it’s all good stuff.

“What an incredibly attentive young man,” the Pistons strength coach said of Drummond this week. “You ask him, ‘Andre, what did we talk about yesterday?’ He’ll repeat it, verbatim. He’s really taking it in, taking it home with him.

Every now and then, halfway through a Pistons Mailbag answer, it becomes clear that the subject is better addressed in a different forum. So it was the other day while answering a question from Sam of Ann Arbor.

(Editor’s note: Pistons.com today starts a weekly series, Summer School, that will provide first-person accounts from Pistons rookies Andre Drummond, Kyle Singler, Khris Middleton and Kim English of their experiences as they move to Detroit and prepare for their first NBA seasons.)